As part of our fascination with the history and development
of the camera obscura we have collected a wide range of material. We
have books that range in time from the 18th century to today that include
information
on the camera obscura. Several publications in our collection deal with
the building of both box and room instruments. Postcards, cartoons, trade
cards, photographic prints, and even toys, plates, a thimble, and a pair
of salt and pepper
shakers are illustrated with images of camera obscuras.

This page shows a few examples and additional pages of images are listed
on the home page and the bottom of each page. These pages include lost
camera obscuras in the US and UK and will be expanded to include other
areas of the world and additional types of images. We have also included
vintage images of some of the camera obscuras we have visited in the US
and the British Isles with the diary pages of our visit.

18th and 19th century encyclopedias on technical subjects always contained
pages of optical devices. Many of these books have been broken and the
pages scattered. We never break up books but since these books have already
been broken we buy as many of the illustrations as possible. On the right
is an example from an 1817 encyclopedia.

Some items are not directly about the camera obscura such as the Dutch
literary classic Camera Obscura by Hildebrand shown below. This
is a 1904 edition of the 1839 book. The connection seems to be an analogy
of the camera obscura to the nostalgic "views" of everyday
life. We love the graphic on the cover, a wonderful gold stamped box
camera obscura sitting on a table.

*New
information 4/2008*

Some time ago we posted the watercolor
on the left along with a scan of the handwritten back. We assumed
the
language of the text was German but had not been able to find anyone
who could identify or translate it. Our appeal for assistance was
answered by Dr. Gregory Hahn of Essen, Germany. He has identifed
the writing
as the 19th century
German "Kurrent" script and provided us with a translation.
A page has been added with a transcription of the German
and an English translation. Check out this link to see a larger
image and read the text.

We now know that almost everything we assumed about the watercolor
is incorrect. It is not a painting of a specific camera obscura but
a proposed commercial camera obscura. We will continue to research
the artist/architect although the job is made harder by the mixture
of Kurrent and English handwriting style that leave the name in doubt.
Dr. Hahn feels it could be William Bittmann/Billmann or Rittmann/Rillmann.

Thank you Dr. Hahn for your translation!

The folded panarama print above shows Plymouth Sound, England in the
19th century. The small building with a flag flying from the turret is
identified in the key as "Camera Obscura" although in the enlarged detail
on the left it appears that there is an open window facing the water. Either
the blue color was applied to this area in error or there were shutters
to close out the light when the camera obscura was operating.

In the 19th century the camera obscura room was not only viewed
as educational and entertaining but was a metaphor (as was photography)
for the voyeur. In the humor of the day it was a device to see
without being seen, to spy on the unaware. The camera obscura on
the Isle of Man was said to overlook the cliff walk favored by
courting couples. On an earlier visit to the camera obscura in
Edinburgh we watched as the young person giving the demonstration
followed a couple down the royal mile with the lens to the delight
of their children who could later surprise their parents with knowledge
of their activities.

On the left is a cartoon from August 30, 1890 Puck
magazine from our collection. Above on the right is a close up
of upper left area of the cartoon.